Filling In The Gap
by His Half Blood Princess
Summary: Follow-up Fic to "You Can't Always Get What You Want". Read that first or this won't make any sense! Severus and Sarah fill everyone in on what happened during those long 18 years when they were apart. Rated T to be safe.
1. The List

Hi everyone! The Harry Potter genre muse has struck again. (shock – gasp!)

Rose of the West sent me the greatest review, and made some amazing suggestions which started the creative juices flowing for a follow-up to my other story .

For example:

_What was she doing in between Voldemort's fall and HP's first year?_

If you haven't read my story "You Can't Always Get What You Want" first, this one probably won't make much sense, so go ahead and read that one. But make sure that you review once you've finished. I'll wait. _Seriously_…

So, now that you're back and I thank you in advance for your review, here we go with the follow-up to "You Can't Always Get What You Want". The rating will be T to be safe, since I don't know where this story is going to go – but I know the storyline of where it will end up.

So, thanks again Rose of the West for asking the questions, and please enjoy as I try and fill in the 18 year gap!

Reviews make my day all sunshiny and warm.

****

Severus and Sarah had returned from their second honeymoon on Halloween night to a welcome home celebration at their house, hosted by their children and had a number of their former classmates and professors in attendance. Sarah and Severus had gone up to bed that night, having made a glorious attempt to rekindle their physical relationship on their month long vacation. Though they both knew they could never make up for lost time, they had certainly put forth a fantastic effort. Several times they had to scourgify the room and they had to repair the shower curtain several times. They left a very large tip when they checked out to cover all of their extra… ahem… expenses.

Three weeks ago after they had eaten dinner, Severus and Sarah were talking to the kids at the dinner table. They had talked about what their plans were for the future, and they had discussed the fact that many people were wondering where Sarah had been during those long 18 years, why she hadn't come back, and the like. Eileen made a suggestion that they contact everyone who had been questioning the situation and sit them all down at once to explain once and for all what had happened. Severus agreed with her that this was a good idea, so that they would not have to repeat themselves several times over. Sarah began writing invitations to most of their classmates, friends, as well as former and current staff members at Hogwarts. They had decided that since Christmas fell on a Friday this year, they would hold the re-telling of their story, as they deemed it, on the Saturday before. This would give them ample time to recall everything that had happened, be able to prepare for the holidays, as well as make sure that everyone that needed to be included was included.

The Owls were sent out on Sunday, December 13th, and by Monday, December 14th they had received a reply from every single witch and wizard they had requested to attend. Everyone wanted to hear their story, and wanted to know what had caused them to be apart for so very long.

"Severus, look at all these replies. We'll have to conjure more chairs than we had thought."

Severus looked at the pile of parchment on the table that was at least a foot high.

"I see what you mean, love. Everyone is coming that we invited?"

She nodded her head.

"According to the response from Professor McGonagall, she thought that if we would like there should be someone from the Daily Prophet here as well, so that the entire wizarding world can know our story. I have to admit as much as I _loathe_ the Prophet for spreading all those rumors about you that were _completely_ uncalled for, I have to admit that this might be the best thing, Severus. How would _you_ feel about that? Having a member of the Prophet staff here to report this?"

Severus looked tense, but he held her hand in his and smiled.

"I dislike them as much, if not _more_ than you, Sarah. But I have to admit I can see where Minerva is going with this. I think it _would_ be a wise idea."

"I have to head into Diagon Alley tomorrow anyway, so I'll stop by the offices and inform them."

Sarah looked at the list they had gathered for Saturday's event. Professor McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid, Professor Sprout, Madam Pomfrey (who said she would be there if there are no major injuries in the Hospital Wing as there is a Quidditch match the day before), Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Molly and Arthur Weasley and their entire family, Neville Longbottom and his Gran - Augusta Longbottom, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Sturgis Podmore, Arabella Figg, Deadalus Digle, Elphias Doge, Filius Flitwick, Aurora Sinistra, Pomona Sprout, Sibyll Trelawney, Septima Vector, Madam Hooch, Irma Pince, and Arthur Diggory had all send owls back immediately saying that they were most curious to know the truth. Of course, Sarah's Mum and Dad said they would be there as well, to show their support for their daughter and her family.

"Severus, I think I'm ready to let everyone know about what happened. I feel _good_ about this decision."

He stood from the table and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm glad, Sarah."

"I'll want you to help by filling in _your_ side of this as well, you know."

"I'm perfectly fine with that. Just be prepared with Potter and the Weasleys here that they will no doubt be calling me every foul name you can imagine."

She laughed and stood from the table as he took her hand to walk her upstairs.

"_I've_ probably called you worse, Severus. I know just how _much_ of a stubborn git you can be. The main difference with _me_ is that I love you for it."

"And I couldn't be happier about that, my love. Let's go to bed."

She nodded her head and cast '_nox'_ to the lights in the room. They changed into their night clothes, and climbed into bed, Sarah resting her head on the left side of Severus' chest.

"My favourite pillow."

He laughed slightly at this.

"Are you sure you don't want a pillow that's a little more comfortable than this?"

She shook her head.

"Nope. I can't hear your heartbeat when my head is on a feather pillow, Severus. It's hearing that constant healthy sound that lulls me to sleep."

She yawned and he kissed her forehead.

"Sleep well, my love."

She nodded as her eyes closed.

"You too, Severus."


	2. Preparations

The next day Sarah and Severus sat the kids down at the Dining Room table for a family meeting. Everyone was excited about the event that was taking place on Saturday, except for Severus who, though he knew it was necessary, still had issues about being in large crowds of people when the attention was focused on him. Sarah promised him that she would be right by his side, holding his hand if necessary, to help him through it. They were drafting a plan to get their house ready for Saturday. At Sarah's request, Eileen was at the table, a piece of parchment in front of her with her quill and ink in hand, ready to take notes of all the things that had to be done so that nothing would be forgotten.

"So, as you all know Saturday is going to be very important, because our story of what has happened over the past 18 years will be brought out to all of those people who are so very important to us, and who helped with the downfall of Voldemort."

Everyone nodded their heads as she continued to speak, Severus taking a sip of his tea as he listened.

"There will be quite a lot of people here, and Molly Weasley, bless her lovely heart, has offered to come by early on Saturday to help us get everything ready and I fully plan on taking her up on her most generous offer."

"That's awfully nice of her, Mummy."

Sarah smiled and nodded her head.

"I think so too, Severus. That's why I'm going to take her up on it. Now, there are a number of things that we need to do to get this house in order. The first thing we'll need to do will be to transfigure chairs. Now son, I know that you're excellent with transfiguration, so I will get some objects for you and you'll be in charge of that, and we can do that on Saturday."

"You got it, Mum."

"Good. Now, I know that Christmas is only two weeks away, and I think that it would be best if we could have this house decorated for Christmas. We should have it warm and inviting for our guests."

Everyone nodded and Sarah stopped for a moment. She looked at Severus who looked back at her with a similar expression. He held out his hand for her to take hold of and she did as she spoke.

"I just realized that this is going to be our first Christmas together as a complete family."

He nodded his head and ran his thumb across her hand.

"It is. Would you like me to be in charge of cutting down the tree as per our tradition?"

She smiled and nodded her head.

"I think we should all do that together and _that_ should be the tradition. What do you say, kids?"

"That would be fun, Mummy. We've never really celebrated a proper Christmas before. Well, there may have been one that I don't really remember because I was too young."

"Then it's settled. After we're done here tonight in the house, we'll go into the forest and pick out our Christmas tree."

Eileen scribbled on her parchment.

"Christmas Tree. Check. What's next, Mum?"

"Well, we'll need to provide food for everyone. I'd say something not too formal like a full roast beef dinner, but something small – snack type stuff. Eileen, will you help me with that on Friday?"

"Absolutely, Mummy."

"What would you like me to do, love?"

Sarah looked at Severus with gentle eyes.

"Well, there's something important that I need you to do, but I don't know if there will actually be enough time."

"What is it?"

"Well, since our family is complete now, and we're having this big event coming, I was wondering if you could work a little of your transfiguration magic in here. Perhaps to make the room bigger? I wouldn't normally ask, but I know what an incredible job you did in our room all those years ago."

He smiled.

"I have a few ideas already. Perhaps behind the cupboard door… I can transfigure that to make an extension in the Living Room. It won't be a large one I'm afraid due to the short notice, but I can do a few things."

"Excellent. How long will it take you?"

"Well, it will most likely not take too long since it's only a small alteration. I'd say perhaps an hour or two."

"Excellent. I went to the Prophet today while I was in Diagon Alley, and they are sending one of their reporters here so that the entire wizarding world will know the story and stop spreading those vicious rumors about you."

Severus nodded his head. The rumors about him had gotten worse and worse as they had continued to remain silent about the past 18 years, and Severus was actually quite glad that they would be able to tell their story and hopefully put those untruths to rest.

"Other than that, I think we just need to do a thorough tidy, which we should start right away, so we can go get our tree. Are you all in agreement with that?"

Everyone nodded their heads.

"Good. Let's get out our wands and get to it then, yes?"

They stood up from the table, got out their wands and began a top to bottom clean of the house, while Severus worked on his temporary transformation of the Living Room. By the time the sun went down their house was sparkling clean, and the Living Room had been enlarged to almost twice its original size. Sarah came down the stairs and gasped at what she saw.

"Severus, it's perfect."

He smiled up at her and looked to the corner of the room.

"That's where we'll put the tree. It's the perfect place, don't you think?"

She nodded her head and threw her arms around him.

"It's absolutely perfect."

She put her lips against his but it was quickly discontinued.

"Mummy, do you _REALLY_ have to have your face attached to Daddy's all the time?"

Sarah started to laugh.

"Only constantly, Eileen. Now, I think we should all get our robes on and go into the forest to get our tree. What do you say? Hot chocolate when we get back?"

"Ok, Mum. SEVERUS!"

Sarah and Severus both looked at their daughter.

"_MUST_ you yell?"

"What? He's in your lab, Daddy."

Severus shook his head and went to the door to his basement lab.

"Son? We're going to get the tree. Are you coming with us?"

They all heard the response.

"Let me just put this under stasis, Dad. I'll be right up."

They all went to the front door as Severus Jr. made quite a production of coming up the stairs. He got on his robe and they walked into the forest together.

"So Mummy, what was your first Christmas like with Daddy?"

Sarah looked at Severus, remembering very well what their first Christmas was like.

"Well, Eileen, I'd actually _rather_ not remember our first _technical_ Christmas together all that much. The one after that was much better."

"What happened to make your first one so bad?"

Sarah looked at her son as they approached the darkness of the forest. Severus took her hand and kissed the top of it.

"Well, son, the first Christmas that your Mum and I spent together was when she discovered my Mark."

A strained silence fell over them as Severus spoke.

"I agree with your Mum though, that the Christmas after that was the best one. So far, anyway."

"Why is that?"

"Well, after a few months of your Dad trying to win me back, which he really didn't have to do, we got back together. We came home one night and your father officially proposed to me. We were married that September and that's what made the second Christmas so special."

"But you got the Mark too, Mummy."

"I know, sweetheart, and on Saturday you'll hear the reasons why I got it. Anyway, enough about all of this. I think we should go this way."

Severus got out his wand and cast '_lumos'_ to guide their way. After walking for about twenty minutes they all decided that the tree in front of them was the best one they could find. Severus blasted the top of the tree and after catching it with an '_arresto momentum'_ spell, it fell softly to the ground, hardly making a sound as it touched the fresh layer of snow. Severus cast '_reducto'_ and put it in his pocket. They walked back to the house and he cast '_engorgio'_ to bring the tree back to its original size and beauty. Severus and his son worked on putting the tree in a stand, as it was Sarah's family tradition that they would do this part in the muggle way.

Once it was secure and looking magnificent in the corner they took to decorating the tree. Flashes of blue, green and silver flew from their wands all around the tree and before long it was decorated with the most beautiful ornaments. Enchanted candles hung on almost every branch creating a beautiful glow in the room, even without the added warmth from the fireplace. Sarah and Severus stood back as they watched their kids put the finishing touches on the tree, Eileen got the honour of putting the star on the top this year, with a promise that Severus Jr. would be able to do it next year. Severus wrapped his arm around Sarah and gave her a kiss on the top of the head. She leaned toward him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I think we're going to be ready, Sarah."

She nodded her head.

"I think so too, Severus."


End file.
